Girish Karnad Passes Away At 81 Of Multiple Organ Failures; Sandalwood Mourns His Loss

Girish Karnad, the veteran theatre personality and a renowned Sandalwood director-actor passed away today (June 10, 2019). He was aged 81 and took his last breath in Bangalore. Prolonged illness is believed to be the reason for his demise and multiple organ failure, according to TOI reports. He is survived by wife Dr Saraswathy Ganapathy and two children. Girish is the recipient of some of the highest awards such as Padma Bhushan and Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary prize.

Girish was known for using history and mythology in his work to tackle social issues. For more than four decades, he composed plays in Kannada. His work has been adapted by filmmakers from different industries such Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Aman Allana and others.

Though he predominantly worked in the Kannada industry, he was in Maharashtra in 1938. He did his initial schooling in Marathi and eventually developed deep interest in theatre when he was studying in Sirsi, Karnataka.

He has also acted in some of the biggest hits such as Rana Vikrama, Kempegowda in Kannada and Bollywood's Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai, in which he played a key role.